Sermon Central
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Preaching God's Dangerous Truth
By Sherman Haywood Cox on Dec 22, 2023
We love to preach the Good News, but it doesn't reach its full potential until it challenges us to dream big.
I was thinking about preaching when I came across Rev. Zach Mills' Facebook entry, which says:
"Dream dangerously! We currently live among a generation of people whose dreams are too realistic to do the world any good!"
Dream dangerously. That is a powerful thought. I began to think immediately of our vocation as those who are preaching the Gospel. Preaching is to give a vision of a different world. A world where God is come.
Preaching Birthright Stealers
Today, we are tempted to sell our birthright. Some of us are tempted by a Republican Elephant while others are tempted to give up the vision to a Democratic Donkey. These other vision thieves want to make us think that their vision of reality is what is "proper" or "believable" or "possible." But the impossible truth of Advent, that God is come is our message. We should be preaching that powerful truth. Not the "possible," not that which is "believable," not that which is "proper," but let us preach that crazy truth that God is come.
Some of us are tempted to sell our birthright of preaching a message where all are blessed for proclamation that the rich are blessed and the poor are getting what they deserve. That is not the dangerous truth that Advent pushes us to teach. That is not the dangerous truth that is good news for all people (Luke 2:10).
Some of us are selling our birthright. We are selling our birthright when we attempt to make people shout without preaching something to shout about. Advent reminds us that our joy is not based in our possessions, neither in what we will get, but in the fact that God is come.
Some of us are selling our birthright. We are selling it when we forget that the God given vision of the coming kingdom is greater than even our conception of it.
Let Us Preach Again
In Revelation 10:10, the prophet John was called to come eat a book. The book was sweet in the mouth, but bitter in the belly. Yes, many of us have been preaching a message that seemed sweet in the mouth. We liked to equate the Gospel of God with a political agenda. Yes, it was sweet in our mouths, but it became bitter in our bellies.
Yes, we have allowed our vision to be distorted by what we thought was "possible," and that message was sweet in our mouths, but it became bitter in our bellies. But thank God, in Revelation 10:11, just like John, we are called to preach again to the world. God is calling us to preach again.
We ain't done all that we should, but let us preach rightly this weekend. Perhaps we have not dared to dream and preach that dream that the "Kingdom of God is Come." (Matthew 10:7) We may not have done it, but guess what, you are called to preach again. I dare you to preach it like God has called you to preach it this coming week. Dream dangerously and let God find you preaching the truth and changing the world!
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